Maggs Bros. Ltd.

A rare, Meij-period gokan trio, preserved with the wonderfully decorative original envelopes (fukuro). The present book is a history of America, produced to coincide with the momentous visit of Ulysses S. Grant to Japan in the same year.

This set tells the fascinating biography of Ulysses S. Grant, (1822-1885), who was the General-in-Chief of the Union Army. He led them to victory in the American Civil War in 1865, and the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. Following his presidency, Grant embarked on a celebrated world tour. When he arrived in Japan in June 1879, he became the first American president to visit the country. The Japanese public and the Meiji government received him with immense enthusiasm, viewing his visit as a monumental milestone in Japan's international relations and Westernisation.

The author, Kanagaki Robun (1829, 1894 née Nozaki Bunzo) was a celebrated writer, poet, satirist and later journalist from the city of Edo. Born to a family of merchants, he showed early signs of literary talent and went on to publish books in collaboration with some of the best artists of his time. The present set was a collaboration with the famed ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kunimasa IV (1848-1920), who had a flair for illustrating modern Japan, War and Western subjects. The books vividly show major landmarks in American history and Meiji-period interactions between the two cultures.

Curiously there is a misprint in the middle volume of the third part. Where there should be a title page, we see the back of the printed image – the title page was printed upside down on the wrong side of the paper, and bound-in. Only when the leaf is gently opened can the title page be seen in just this volume. This is a highly unusual misprint and this error does not appear in bibliographic records. Waseda University's digitised copy shows the same title page but printed correctly. It is likely to be a one-off error.

Extremely rare. Only 2 copies in OCLC (Brigham Young and Cornell).